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| Francois Gouin (1831 to 1896) with his wife. |
WAESOL Conference: October 18, 2013
Highline Community College
Modern Applications of Francois Gouin's Series
Method of Teaching Languages
Saturday, 10:00 am - 11:30am Room 22-105
Teresa Knudsen, Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute. Spokane,
WA terryk@mfwi.edu
This session introduces the Series
Method of Teaching and Learning Languages, as developed by Francois Gouin in
1880. Session participants will trace Gouin's method in current pedagogy, and
draft curriculum and lesson plans that include updated aspects of Gouin's
approach.
Teachers
of adult learners in Intensive English programs, Teachers of adult learners in
English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs, Teachers of adult learners in
Refugee/Immigrant programs, K-12 teachers
Skills
development -- Reading, Skills development -- Writing, Skills development --
Speaking/Pronunciation/Listening, Assessment
Participants will review the
development of language acquisition methods, and trace Gouin's influence on
20th century practices such as the Berlitz, Natural, and Communicative
Approaches, Metacognition, etc., related to theory, research, and practice.
Participants can compare and contrast, classify, and discuss the various
approaches as they relate to learning language in a series.
Shifting into a workshop mode,
participants will apply Gouin's principles to draft lesson plans, curriculum,
and assessments. The session is threaded with discussions and peer suggestions,
and provide opportunities for participants to share their insights and
applications of Gouin’s Series Method. Session participants will leave the
session with materials ready for practical use in the classroom.
Presenter will offer a framework to
analyze language tasks:
Series
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Non-Series
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Hybrid
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L’Art d’Enseigner et d’Etudier les Langues. (The Art of Teaching and
Studying Languages.) Francois Gouin. Second Edition. George Philip and Son.
Language teachers
strive to create optimal learning conditions, materials, and methodologies to
enhance their students' language acquisition. Yet, many reading, listening, and
grammar materials include exercises that do not link to each other, or build,
but instead present a haphazard set of sentences, or short, unrelated readings.
Francois Gouin (1831 to
1896) was one of the first formal language teachers and learners to write about
using connected ideas to learn languages. His epiphany came when he noticed his
young nephew learned French, seemingly effortlessly.
Gouin saw that his nephew
was curious about the world, wanted to know the names of everything and asked
questions about how things worked. After learning vocabulary and gaining
knowledge, the nephew would play, re-enact the learning situation, and discuss
the experience. Gouin then applied these principles to his own learning and
teaching.
Background of Francois
Gouin
Francois Gouin (1831-1896) was a Frenchman who taught Latin. In an
effort to learn German, he moved to Hamburg, holed up in his lodgings, and
began studying German by using the same method that he used to teach Latin: the
“classical process” using a grammar book, a dictionary, and practicing
translation. (Page 10).
·
Gouin memorized 248 irregular German verbs.
·
He memorized German grammar books.
After a few weeks, Gouin felt confident that he had learned the
language, and visited a German university to try out his newly acquired
knowledge. He reports on the result:
“But alas! In vain did I strain my ears; in vain my eye strove to
interpret the slightest movements of the lips of the professor; in vain I
passed from the first classroom to a second; not a word, not a single word
would penetrate to my understanding. Nay more than this, I did not even
distinguish a single one of the grammatical forms so newly studied; I did not
recognize even a single one of the irregular verbs just freshly learnt, though
they certainly must have fallen in crowds from the lips of the speaker.” (p.
11).
Refusing to give up, Gouin returned to his room, and planned his next
study:
·
He memorized 800 German word roots.
·
He translated German writers, such as Goethe and
Schiller.
Gouin then returned to the university to test his additional knowledge:
“Imagine then, if it be possible, the astonishment at first, then the
stupefaction, then the degradation by which I was overtaken after the first
quarter of an hour at the lecture I attended, when I had to submit to the
evidence, and to confess to myself that I was, so far as regards the spoken
language, exactly in the same state as upon the first day; that I did not
understand a word, not a syllable, and that all my efforts had been made in pure
waste, or at least had produced no appreciable result. This was no longer a
mere deception--it was a failure; nay, more than this, it was a defeat…For the
first time in my life I dared to question the efficacy of the classical methods
of the university. (p. 14 and 16).
“Alas! I can say it
now; it all depended upon a very small error. I had simply mistaken the organ.
The organ of language--ask the little child--is not the eye; it is the ear. The
eye is made for colours, and not for sounds and words. Now all I had hitherto
learnt, I had learnt by the eye. The word was in my eye and not in my ear. The
fact expressed by it had not penetrated to, was not graven upon, my
intellectual substance, had never been received by my faculty of
representation. This was why I was deaf though yet I heard, and both deaf and
dumb though I was able to speak. Fool that I had been! I had studied by the
eye, and I wished to understand by my ears.” (p.33).
In contrast, when Gouin
returned to France, he saw that his little 3-year-old nephew had learned
French.
“This language, so
living and so thoroughly real, within the power of such a tiny mortal, handled
with so much ease, applied to everything with so much surety, so much
precision, so much relevancy--this phenomenon could not but strike me forcibly.
It was impossible not to make a comparison at once between the child and
myself, his process and my own.”
“What!” I thought,
“this child and I have been working for the same time, each at a language. He
playing round his mother, running after flowers, butterflies, and birds,
without weariness, without apparent effort, without even being conscious of his
work, is able to say all he things, express all he sees, understand all he
hears…” (p. 34).
“The classical method,
with its grammar, its dictionary, and its translations, is a delusion--nothing
but a delusion. Nature knows and applies another method. Her method is
infallible; this is an undeniable , indisputable fact…” (p. 35).
“To perceive anything,
we must first have light upon it. Falsehood cannot be well distinguished but in
the light of truth…I required a term of comparison. This term of comparison was
a better method--in the present case, the method of Nature…”
To surprise Nature’s
secret [method], I must watch this child.” (p. 35).
Analysis of Gouin’s Series Method
One language
specialist, Dr. Ataillah Maleki-Assistant Professor of TEFL at University of
Medical Sciences at Zanjan-describes the epiphany that Francois Gouin
experienced upon seeing his young nephew, only a young child, learning French
rapidly and with great success.
"Observing his
three-year-old nephew, Gouin came to the conclusion that language learning is a
matter of transforming perceptions into conceptions. Later, he devised a
teaching method that was premised upon these insights. The Series Method taught
learners directly a series of connected sentences which were easy to
understand."
Gouin concluded that
language is learned in "series" or in themes. Often the themes are
observable and involve the five senses.
Chapter XII
“Transformation of a perception into a conception.”
(Page 39).
To see with the “mind’s eye.
Chapter
XIII
Principles of Classification Employed by the Child
Order of Succession in Time
Relation of End to Means
The Incubation
Secret of the Child’s Memory
Explanation of My Failures
Avoid working at “hazard” learning in the greatest
disorder possible. p. 44
The Art of Learning and Studying Foreign Languages.
Francois Gouin. 1880. 1894 Published: London by G. Philip and Son.
Gouin’s
Method Involves Sentences and Verbs, the “Soul of the Sentence.”
Chapter XIV
The child assimilates the mother-tongue sentence by
sentence, and not word by word
Revelation
of the high value of the verb, the “soul of the sentence.”
Series of Verbs
The acorn sprouts
The oak plant takes root.
The shoot sprouts out of the earth.
The sap rises.
The sapling throws out leaves.
The stalk buds.
The stalk blossoms.
The flower blooms.
The fruit forms.
The fruit ripens.
The fruit falls.
Success
Gouin was able to access and produce the target
language through the series method.
Concession,
addressing opposition:
Didn’t all his previous study of grammar/vocabulary,
etc help him?
No, he said it hindered him.
Part Second
Construction and Application of the System
Objective, Subjective, and Figurative.
Sequential
Learning in Psychology
“Sequential learning is a type of learning in which one part of a task is learnt before the next
Serial organization is fundamental to human behaviour. Most of our day-to-day activities involve sequencing of actions to achieve a desired goal, from sequencing words to form a sentence, to driving an automobile or following directions on a roadmap, to making a recipe following instructions in a cooking manual (see Sun and Giles 2001). Lashley (1951) has highlighted the ubiquity of sequentiality or serial order in our behaviour
“ ... the coordination of leg movements in insects, the song of birds, the control of trotting and pacing in a gaited horse, the rat running the maze, the architect designing a house, the carpenter sawing a board present a problem of sequences of action ... ”
“Sequential Learning.”
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Sequential_learning
Some Additional Considerations:
Multiple Intelligences from Howard Gardner
The notion that one approach may not work for different types of
learners.
Metacognition, Cognition, Affective, and Psychomotor
Knowing that one is applying a specific method to learning.
Selecting cognitive tools for a specific learning task.
Being aware of one’s feelings about a language task.
Being aware of psychomotor influences.
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Applications of the Series Method:
Application of the Series Method using E-Cards
“Here is your Christmas Card.
Click on the Stamp to open it. [Use of
infinitive]
I’m hoping [that] you will help me to bring my Christmas Card to life.
Click on the chimney to light the fire. [Smoke begins coming out of the chimney.]
Click on the Pear Tree Cottage sign. [A
tree appears.]
Lovely! You’ll find candles in the porch. [In the porch, not on the porch].
Now for some magic to light them.
Try the twinkling star. [The star
falls from the sky to the top of the tree.]
[Lighted candles appear like magic.]
What IS going on at the gate? [emphasis]
[Something is banging on the gate and kicking up
snow.]
Click on it to see. [Use of infinitive] [A
black dog and cat run to the tree.]
In a Christmas Card, we can even control the weather…
Click anywhere in the sky for snow.
[Snow begins to fall. The words “Season’s
Greetings!” appear.]
Application
of Series Method through Traditional and Popular Culture Content:
Story Lines:
Fables, Folk Stories, and Fairy Tales
Films (Drew’s Script-O-Rama. http://www.script-o-rama.com/
http://www.script-o-rama.com/snazzy/dircut.html
Application
of Series Method through Academic Content:
Time Lines in Academic Studies:
Social Studies
Geology
Biology
World History
Art History
Theatre History
Costume History
Conclusion
Here are the beginning paragraphs of Gouin’s book:
“The feeling which leads nations to become acquainted with each other
and to penetrate farther and farther into each other’s territories is one which
it is useless to resist. It is in vain that despotism constructs frontiers
bristling with fortresses and cannon; in vain that the spirit of absolutism
strives to multiply the germs of discord between nation and nation, and to
imprison the races each within the barren confines of its own unhealthy
egotism.
Steam and electricity have drawn nations nearer together than were
neighboring villages in the olden times. By their means every movement, every
aspiration is made known and reported from one to the other, is revealed and
published hour by hour. A proximity, an interpenetration of the nations such as
this, renders more imperative day by day the need for mankind to be able to
speak to and understand each other, to exchange their ideas and the fruits of
their activities.
Unfortunately, however moral and legitimate the demand may be for the
complete satisfaction of this need, a barrier is opposed which until now has
been almost insurmountable, namely, the difference of language. To what, then,
should fall the task of throwing down, or at least of leveling up, this
obstacle of Nature? Evidently to science, to teaching, to the school.
Alongside the material railway needed to enable our bodies to
communicate, it is absolutely necessary to construct a “mental railway” for the
intercourse of minds. This mental railway must take the form of a linguistic
method that shall enable a person, by means of the language, to enter into and
assimilate the intelligence, and the spirit of a foreign nation, not as now, in
a period of ten or twenty years, and in so doing to expend the third part of a
lifetime, but in the space between two equinoxes, or, for those of trained
will, in the space of a single season. On the day when this new species of
locomotive is definitely organized and put at the service of men of thought and
will, the brotherhood of nations will cease to be a vain and empty word--a word
which Governments laugh to scorn, and peace as well as liberty will perhaps
have found their most solid foundation.
Nations would never strive to cut each other’s throats if they
understood each other thoroughly, and if a healthy and moral hospitality drew
them together. However great the perverse ambition of those who excite the
races to make war upon each other, their efforts must inevitably fall to the
ground if opposed to a universal league waging a continual crusade in the cause
of the most sacred interests of humanity.”
REFERENCES
The Art of Learning and Studying Foreign Languages.
Francois Gouin. 1880. 1894 Published: London by G. Philip and Son
American Roots. Karen Blanchard and Christine Root. Pearson-Longman.
2001. http://www.amazon.com/American-Roots-Karen-Blanchard/dp/0201619954
“Francois Gouin’s Series Method.” 2010.
Fundamentals of English Grammar. Betty Azar. Pearson-Longman. 2011.
“A Historical Sketch of the Gouin Series-System of Teaching Modern
Languages and of Its Use in the United States.” Charles Hart Handschin. The
School Review. Vol. 20. No. 3. March 1912. Pgs. 170-175. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1077247
A History of English Language Teaching. A.P.R. Howatt with H.G.
Widdowson. Oxford University Press.
Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. J. Michael O’Malley
and Anna Uhl Chamot. Cambridge University Press. 1990.
National Archives : Declaration of Independence
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.html
National Archives : Declaration of Independence
Sequential Learning. http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Sequential_learning
Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. H. Douglas Brown. Fifth
Edition. Pearson Education. 2006. http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Language-Learning-Teaching-5th/dp/0131991280
Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Diane Larsen-Freeman and
Marti Anderson. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. 2011. http://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Principles-Language-Teaching-Larsen-Freeman/dp/0194423603
Sample of Film Script for practice with Gouin’s Series Method:
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL
screenplay by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
screen story by Jay Wolpert & Stuart Beattie and Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
FIRST DRAFT
September 1, 2002
FADE IN:
EXT. CARIBBEAN SEA - DAY
A gray, impenetrable wall of fog. From somewhere comes the
FAINT SOUND of a LITTLE GIRL'S VOICE, singing, slow tempo,
almost under her breath:
YOUNG ELIZABETH (O.S.)
Yo, ho, yo, ho, a pirate's life for
me. Yo, ho, yo, ho, it's a pirate's
life for me ...
Suddenly a massive SHIP emerges from the grey, the Winged
Victory maidenhead looming. It's a British dreadnought, the
H.M.S. Dauntless. Formidable, frightening, twenty-five gun
ports on the side, and rail guns to boot.
EXT. H.M.S. DAUNTLESS - FORECASTLE - DAY
ELIZABETH SWANN, strawberry blonde hair, stands at the bow
rail, gazing at the sea, still singing --
ELIZABETH
... drink up me hearties, yo, ho ...
JOSHAMEE GIBBS, who was born old, skin a dark leather, clutches
her shoulder, startling her.
GIBBS
(sotto)
Quiet, missy! Cursed pirates sail
these waters. You want to call 'em
down on us?
Elizabeth stares wide-eyed at him.
NORRINGTON
Mr. Gibbs.
NORRINGTON, a dashing young man, Royal Navy to the core, glares
sternly at Gibbs. Standing beside him is GOVERNOR WEATHERBY
SWANN, a man of obvious high station, brass buttons on his
thick blue jacket. He is Elizabeth's father.
NORRINGTON (CONT'D)
That will do.
GIBBS
She was singing about pirates. Bad
luck to sing about pirates, with
us mired in this unnatural fog --
mark my words.
NORRINGTON
Consider them marked. On your way.
GIBBS
'Aye, Lieutenant.
(as he moves off)
Bad luck to have a woman on board,
too. Even a mini'ture one.
He returns to his deck-swabbing duties, surreptitiously takes a
quick swig from a flask.
ELIZABETH
I think it would be rather exciting
to meet a pirate.
NORRINGTON
Think again, Miss Swann. Vile and
dissolute creatures, the lot of
them. I intend to see to it that
any man who sails under a pirate
flag, or wears a pirate brand, gets
what he deserves: a short drop and
a sudden stop.
Elizabeth doesn't know what a 'short drop and a sudden stop'
means. Gibbs helpfully mimes: a man being hung.
SWANN
Captain Norrington... I appreciate
your fervor, but I am concerned
about the effect this subject will
have on my daughter.
NORRINGTON
My apologies, Governor.
ELIZABETH
Actually, I find it all fascinating.
SWANN
And that's what concerns me.
Elizabeth, we will be landing in
Port Royal soon, and beginning our
new lives. Wouldn't it be wonderful
if we comport ourselves as befits
our class and station?
ELIZABETH
Yes, father.
Chastised, she turns away, to look out over the bow rail.
ELIZABETH (CONT'D)
(to herself)
I still think it would be exciting to meet a pirate ...
The fog still hems in the ship; very little of the sea is visible --
-- but suddenly, a FIGURE comes into view. A young boy, WILL
TURNER, floating on his back in the otherwise empty water.
There is nothing to show where he came from, or how he came to
be there.
ELIZABETH (CONT'D)
Look! A boy! There's a boy in the
water!
Norrington and Swann spot him --
NORRINGTON
Man overboard!
ELIZABETH
Boy overboard!
NORRINGTON
Fetch a hook -- haul him out of
there!
Quick movement and activity on deck. Sailors use a boathook to
snag the boy when he passes. Norrington and Swann haul him
aboard, and lay him on the deck. Elizabeth sidles in for a
closer look.
NORRINGTON (CONT'D)
He's still breathing.
SWANN
Where did he come from?
GIBBS
Mary mother of God ...
Attention is turned away from the boy --
The sea is no longer empty. WRECKAGE from a ship litters the water ... along with the bodies of its crew. What is left of the ship's hull BURNS, a ragged British flag hanging limply from the stern.
The H.M.S. Dauntless slips silently through it all. The scene calls for hushed voices.
SWANN
What happened here?
NORRINGTON
An explosion in the powder magazine.
Merchant vessels run heavily armed.
GIBBS
Lot of good it did them ...
(off Swann's look)
Everyone's thinking it! I'm just
saying it! Pirates!
SWANN
There is no proof of that. It could have been an accident.
Captain,these men were my protection. If there is even the slightest chance
one of those poor devils is still alive, we cannot abandon them!
NORRINGTON
Of course not.
(to a sailor)
Rouse the Captain, immediately.
(to the crew)
Come about and strike the sails!
Unlash the boats! Gunnery crew ...jackets off the cannons!
(to Swann)
Hope for the best...prepare for the worst.
(to two sailors)
Move the boy aft. We'll need the deck clear.
They lift the boy. Swann pulls Elizabeth away from the rail,
away from the hideous scene in the water.
SWANN
Elizabeth, I want you to accompany the boy. He's in your charge now.
You'll watch over him?
Elizabeth nods gravely. Swann hurries away to help unstow the
longboat. The sailors lay the boy gently on the poop deck,
behind the wheel, they hurry off. Elizabeth kneels down beside
the boy.
His good looks are not lost on her. She reaches out, gently
brushes the blond hair from his eyes --
Suddenly, he grabs her wrist, awake now. Elizabeth is startled,
but their eyes lock. She takes his hand in hers.
ELIZABETH
My name is Elizabeth Swann.
YOUNG WILL
Will Turner.
ELIZABETH
I'm watching over you, Will.
He clutches her hands, then slips back into unconsciousness.
His movement has opened the collar of his shirt; Elizabeth sees
he wears a chain around his neck. She tugs it free,
revealing --
A GOLD MEDALLION. One side is blank. She turns it over --
A SKULL gazes up at her. Vaguely Aztec in design, but to her
eyes, it can mean one thing only --
ELIZABETH (CONT'D)
You're a pirate.
She glances back at the crew. Sees Norrington, giving orders, moving toward her.
She looks back at Will -- comes to a quick decision. Takes the
medallion from around his neck. Hides it under her coat.
Examples of Student Topics Lite with Illustrations
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